A Shift of an Axis
by shoutintotheoblivion
Summary: People grow, things change, moments occur. It was inevitable that they would have a bigger impact on each other than any of them could imagine.
1. 000: Of James Alexander Potter

**Disclaimer:** _I own nothing you can recognize here, it all belongs to J.K. Rowling._

_I have decided to try this out, a new story, and I might probably end up hating myself for publishing this so early, because I don't know when the first actual chapter will be finished and ready... but here it is anyway. _

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**Of James Alexander Potter**

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In a town, in a house, in a room there was a bookshelf. On a shelf, on the bookshelf was a book. Beneath the bookshelf, staring up at the books was a boy who couldn't have been older than 8. He was standing on his toes, one arm holding onto a lower shelf while the other was outstretched towards the book. It was a curious book, worn out on the pages and evidently thoroughly read-through. It was the little boy who read it more than anyone else in the house; he usually did it when he was bored and today his father had gotten angry with him for flying around the house and hid away his broomstick. It was for that particular reason—lack of a broomstick—that the messy haired boy was now desperately trying to reach the book. In the end he stepped on the lowest shelf gripping onto the one that was level with his face. He moved his right leg to step on a higher shelf, pulling himself up with his hands, slowly climbing his way up. Eventually his luck—or skills—gave out and he fell to the carpeted floor but not before he managed to pull out the book he had wanted and throw it to the ground below him.

Whatever you may learn about James Potter later on it is crucial that you know that: a) James Potter always knew everything best; b) he was always precise; c) had always hated when he couldn't get the thing he wanted; and d) and thus worked harder for it.

When James was born his grandparents gushed, his mother smiled and his father cried. When he was a year old many family friends were invited to his birthday party—all of them announcing that he was the most beautiful child they've seen in a while, simultaneously complimenting Mr. and Mrs. Potter's heritage. Once James learned to walk his parents quickly realized they would have to hide away fragile things. Their son loved levitating objects; however he wasn't always successful at doing so. Then James turned five and his father taught him how to read and opened the library door to him. At first it took him ages to read a short book, but with time the dark haired boy mastered the reading skills and started burning through books. There wasn't a particular type of book he liked and by the age of 8 he had read a few cookbooks, a book on cleaning spells, a book about healing spell, a Transfiguration text book, and quite a few children's books. But he always came back to Hogwarts: A History.

A calendar hung on the wall in his room. It had been made by James himself a week after his eighth birthday and then hung on his wall by his mother. On the day when James got his broomstick taken away for flying around the house (and possibly breaking one of his father's favourite ashtrays; which he mostly used for show) there were exactly 1,219 uncrossed days. It was the amount of days that James would have to wait until he himself could step on Hogwarts Express. It was the amount of days he had to wait until he would finally see Hogwarts. Every day he would wake up, pick up a quill and uncork a bottle of ink to cross out another day. He would then reach for old, worn our Transfiguration text book, which always stood in the first drawer of his desk, and re-read a paragraph about any spell, memorizing the incantation and the hand motion that went with it.

James Potter was ambitious, intelligent, mischievous ever since he could walk, talented and above all kind.

He showed kindness in the strangest of moments (and sometimes in the most curious of ways), perhaps when no one would think of doing so. Eleanor Potter would be halfway through yelling at her son for breaking a vase which was family heritage when he'd hug her and tell her he loved her. Or she would be making dinner when James would come running into the kitchen, shoes—and more often than not, his pants as well—muddy, an injured, starving, looking animal—cat, dog, mouse, bird, squirrel, badger, otter—dirtier than he was and then he would place it on the table, which drove his mother mad.

Although he was a spitting image of his father, James was his mother's son.

The last thing you have to know about James Potter is that he would, inevitably grow into an annoying, arrogant mess of hormones – commonly known as teenage boy. And the metaphorical book of his life will be titled Lily Charlotte Evans.

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_**A/N:** Please review? I give out free tea and biscuits!_

Love.


	2. 001: The Dynamic of Snogging

_Hello, hi, ciao, buon giorno, bonjour... guten Tag? I will most likely end up hating myself for posting this chapter so early and I will probably end up changing bits and pieces of it, so please don't be mad at me if I do, I am just a very weird indecisive person. _

_**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own anything you can recognize. But I do own the OCs, I guess?_

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**The Dynamic of Snogging**

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Remus Lupin stood leaning against the wall of the fully packed Come and Go Room, admiring his work. Admittedly, it wasn't his work alone, but he had been the one orchestrating the event. It was Remus who wrote down the list of necessary supplies and it was Remus who then set up the ticket price. The tickets were of course a guaranteed entry into the Come and Go Room where the Marauders had decided to host a large gathering—a loud party—to celebrate the ending of their fifth year and O.W.L.-s. It was with utmost care that they chose how they would spread the rumour and then proceeded to sell tickets even more carefully. In fact any member of the student body was able to buy a ticket if they ventured to the Trophy Room on Monday, Wednesday or Thursday between the hours of 7 and 8 o'clock in the evening. It was a risky place to choose, but there was a long ago established Marauder theory (that had since become a code) that said: _"The __riskier__ the meeting place, the safer it is."_

Two weeks before the party they had written down the essentials—food, drinks, refreshments, a list of people who were not allowed to come. It was also around that time that they had managed to get the rumour flowing. One short chat between Victoria Sturgiss and Sirius Black was all it took for the whole Hogwarts fifth year student body to find out about the planned party and the Trophy Room/Ticket Store working hours.

A week before the party Sirius and James skived off a whole days' worth of classes to bring back butterbeer, firewhiskey, other non-alcoholic drinks and some of Honeydukes' finest products. With their budget running pretty high—James had the idea that they deserved to earn some money themselves for being such exquisite planners and continued to bargain with richer students—they could buy extra alcohol and still count on having enough money on the side to split between the four of them. No one did business quite as well as Marauders. It was for that very reason that they had their own secret company, as they liked to refer to it, which provided certain services to the Hogwarts population (sans the professors or adults in general). It occurred to them after their first trip to Hogsmeade during their third year. The four of them—mainly Sirius and James—were complaining about the rarity of planned Hogsmeade visits when Sirius—who was usually the one to come up with the craziest ideas—suggested they should sneak out on their own. The first trip to Hogsmeade occurred three weeks after their discussion, after coming up with an elaborate plan:

_sneak out just before the curfew; _

_use the Invisibility Cloak to remain unseen;_

_proceed to the Hunchbacked witch;_

_congratulations, you have reached Honeydukes and Hogsmeade, enjoy._

On the opposite side of the room Remus Lupin could spot glimpses of red hair. Unaware of being spotted Lily Evans was observing the dancefloor, thinking of the amount of fun she would be having if she had a camera for half of the dancers weren't dancing at all. Instead they were now stumbling around and failing in their desperate attempts to appear a shred graceful. She brought her bottle of butterbeer to her lips, tipping it over to empty the remainder of its contents. It had been her second butterbeer after two shots of firewhiskey and it came to her as no surprise that she now preferred the solid support of the cold stone wall behind her to dancing among the rest of the attendees.

"Hullo, Lily," a handsome, tall boy yelled over the music, suddenly invading her personal space.

"Sirius," Lily smiled, "how come you're not drunk?"

Sirius smirked, "Always so forward, aren't you? Night's still young, I've got time."

"It's almost midnight," the girl in front of him reasoned.

"True," the dark haired boy agreed. "But," he leaned on the wall next to her, "that's exactly my point. It's not yet midnight. Are you drinking butterbeer only?"

Lily's lips parted and she let out a short laugh, which was swallowed by the noise in the room, "No. I've had some firewhiskey before and this was my second bottle," she lifted her right hand to prove her point.

"Good." Sirius replied distractedly, his eyes fixed on the dancers, chiefly Daphne Chambers and her best friend Gemma Connelly. While Sirius had to admit that Daphne Chambers was a fit bird, he also had to remind himself that she was not available and if there was one thing Sirius would never do, no matter the circumstances, it was snogging another bloke's girl. Much to his chagrin Daphne hadn't been available since Easter holidays, when she started dating her fellow house mate, Dorian Ellington, which Sirius thought was a shame because a girl as good looking as Daphne ought to be single.

Abandoning the intricacies of the fit Ravenclaw's love life, his gaze turned to her friend. Gemma Connelly was quite petite, with short brown locks framing her round face. Her cheeks were slightly chubby and she had a small snub nose. She was far from what Sirius would call fit, and he mightn't have noticed her if she hadn't been dancing with Daphne, but once he did he had to admit that, while she wasn't the fittest bird around, she was definitely attractive in her own way. There was an air of innocence about her, be it just her face, or her slightly naïve demeanour, that he had to admit to liking. Thus his gaze locked on the brunette and Lily followed it.

"Sirius Black, no." She pushed off the wall, stumbling in front of him, which caused the boy to chuckle.

"Aren't we a bit tipsy. And what do you mean 'no'?" He dropped his hands on her shoulders to steady her.

"I mean no, Sirius," she tried pushing away his hands but to no avail ("You'll fall if I don't hold you and then someone will kill me."), "I saw that look. That _look_—the way you looked at Gemma Connelly."

"And?"

Lily crossed her arms and sighed, temporarily shutting her eyes and feeling her head spin, "You can't snog her, she fancies you! She _really_ does. _Truly_ fancies you and you can't just snog her and call it quits."

This caused Sirius to frown, "I do that all the time. I admit it's not the nicest thing to do but—"

"But usually the girls are _actually_ up for just one snog… and Gemma isn't."

"You sound like _you_ would be up for a snog."

She smacked his hand, "Sirius, I may be a lightweight, but I'm not daft."

Sirius grinned, manoeuvring them so that Lily was once again leaning against the wall, "You stay here, _don't_ do anything stupid," he glanced behind his back, "and _I_ have to go. And don't worry; I'm sure she knows it's _just_ a song."

"Fine, but you _know_ what you're getting into, Sirius Black, you're just refusing to acknowledge it."

He offered her a lopsided grin before shrugging his shoulders, "I'm a fool, what can I do?"

The redhead watched him walk away, suddenly craving another firewhiskey.

* * *

"You and Gemma Connelly _**what**__?_" Peter Pettigrew's exclamation rang through the Marauders' compartment.

Sirius gave him a sharp look, "I knew I should have kept mum about that. You're all just a bunch of immature gits."

"Now, Padfoot," his best friend started, adjusting his glasses, "why would you keep that from us for three whole months?"

"I was trying to be a decent bloke," he sighed, "but she just had to go off and be a—all psychotic."

Remus scoffed, "Psychotic is the right term. If one more person knocks on this door and asks if you are dating that... slag,"

"Don't be harsh, Moony," James interrupted.

"If one more person comes I swear they won't leave in the same condition they came in."

"Someone ate a nasty Bertie Bott," Sirius muttered, while glancing at his best friend. "It was that bad?"

The weary looking boy shrugged his shoulders, "It was a rough month, I s'ppose."

"Next month you'll have us to keep you company," Peter quipped, before opening a Chocolate Frog, and groaning consequentially . "Not another Dumbledore."

The train ride on September 1st 1977 was an eventful one, the courtesy of Sirius Black's admirable snogging skills, Gemma Connelly's wild imagination and Hogwarts unyielding gossip mill. Somehow Sirius' exciting escapades with Gemma had reached the ears of Victoria Sturgiss, in a slightly altered version of the events. The slight altered version said, and we can't be sure if the same rumour hadn't been changed even more since then, that Sirius Black had finally approached Gemma Connelly—a plain looking girl—during the party the Marauders' hosted at the end of their fifth year. The mentioned boy proceeded to express his feelings for Gemma, who had fancied the bloke since their third year at Hogwarts, before dancing with her to a slow song. After the song ended the two left the party for an unknown amount of time and went to search for a broom cupboard—one of the rare parts of the story that remained true to the actual events—where magical things happened and Sirius Black professed his undying love for Gemma Connelly. The news took the whole generation by storm because it had been a well-known fact that Sirius Black was not keen on any sort of romantic relationships. Or professions of love.

The first knock on the Marauders' door came only a few minutes into the train ride when Julie Malone, one third of the _Hogwarts Gossip Mill_, came to say hello to the four boys. Neither of them found it strange until another knock sounded 15 minutes later and the fourth year standing in front of the four boys proceeded to question Sirius about his newfound undying love. Needless to say, three out of four Marauders found the situation highly amusing, while the fourth one opted for thinking of fun ways to hex people.

"It's not even that funny!" He yelled after a minute.

This, however, caused James to burst out laughing, "I'm sorry, Padfoot… mate, but everybody thinks you're in love with the girl. I mean I don't know what's more ridiculous, thinking of you saying those things," he stopped to take in a breath between laughing and talking, "or all of them actually _believing_ it."

"I need to hex someone."

"Oi," Peter suddenly turned solemn, "hexes outside of the compartment. This is a hex free zone."

"Wormtail's right, Padfoot," Remus nodded in agreement, "Don't do anything rash."

"I'll wait for them to come to me," Sirius replied, eyes narrowing as he fixed his gaze on the door.

The next knock sounded minutes after and a short third year opened the door, meeting Sirius' furious glare. The girl left in a matter of seconds, after her ears had begun growing at an exponential speed, sliding the compartment door shut and running off. Pleased with the effect he had on her, Sirius grabbed a few Bertie Botts Beans, popping one in his mouth ("Ew, sand."). Before lunch he managed to hex two more people—a fourth year and a fifth year—which put him in a better mood. However, the knocks ceased during the lunch hour and, without the newfound amusement, Sirius' mood went back to its original, sour state.

* * *

Mary MacDonald walked through the barrier as gracefully as ever, the sky may have been overcast but she was radiant. Her skin was tan, her hair lighter and her face had an abundance of freckles that she had obtained over the summer. There was a glow about her as she stepped towards the Hogwarts Express, ready to board the train and find her compartment, but only after greeting a few acquaintances and friends, if only to show off her summer tan. She could feel people watching her, but it wasn't something she was unfamiliar with. In reality Mary had gotten used to the lingering gazes and boys turning heads when she walked by their eyes glued to her. Mary MacDonald positively adored the attention she often got. The boys loved her curves and, she thought, all of the girls envied her. And Mary enjoyed it, not in a conceited I'm-better-than-you way, but in an oh-you-flatter-me way. It boosted her confidence and no one had ever complained about getting compliments so why should Mary be the first one to do so? There was nothing wrong with acknowledging your good looks and sharing them with the rest of the world. The brunette always said that people should have something beautiful to look at and if that something turned out to be her—why should she be bothered.

She didn't honestly mean it, but no one had to know. Sometimes she liked to say things she didn't actually mean because they made her sound more interesting, but she didn't really think she was the most gorgeous girl on their year—even though she could easily take the title—and she didn't believe that just about every bloke fancied her, although many of them did. Mary often said things she didn't mean, things that sometimes made her sound like a bitch, things that made her come off as a very, very shallow person. Often she said things that made her sound condescending. No one knew that she wasn't as confident, for Mary found it extremely easy to put on a smile and pretend. Pretend that she truly was the most gorgeous girl. Pretend that she deserved all of the attention. It was the pretence that earned her the adoration of the male students and the envy of females and Mary quite liked it that way.

"_If people envy you,"_ she said, _"you're doing something better than them; and that's awfully rewarding, isn't it?"_

It _was_ rewarding. There were plenty of awards; there were the dates and then there was the fact that she rarely had to carry her own books. Boys were going out of their way to make her feel special and she always had a date for the important events: she never went alone to a Slug Club party, never had no one to kiss on New Year's, never spent Valentine's Day on her own, never had no plans for a Hogsmeade trip.

Yes, boys liked Mary and sometimes Mary liked boys, too.

Boys like Elliot Chase, with his dark, curly hair and hazel eyes. Boys like Elliot Chase who liked Mary, but didn't care about her at all. Boys like Elliot Chase who snogged a girl during summer break and pretended they didn't know her when they noticed her looking over. It was boys like Elliot Chase that were Mary's weakness and she couldn't shake them. Ever. Oh, she had tried. She tried falling for the nice guy, or dating the smart guy, not that Elliot wasn't smart. He was just a _really smart_ _git_. Being a really smart git made him that more dangerous to girls who couldn't ignore boys like him.

Elliot Chase was everything Mary shouldn't have wanted in the first place, yet she was irreversibly attracted to him and she couldn't stop herself from liking him. He wasn't even the best looking bloke in school, Mary had seen better looking blokes on daily basis (not many, but still). Yet there was something about Elliot that attracted Mary and she couldn't, for the love of everything Merlin had ever achieved, put a finger on it. There was something about him that made all of the chemicals in Mary's body react very, _very_ strange and he made her lose her mind quite a lot—and, as it will turn out, very often. With the rational part of her brain temporarily out of work, it was easy for Mary to take a few wrong turns, then a step or two in the wrong direction and end up with the wrong guy—Elliot Chase, for the moment. In defeat she concluded that she was, to put it simply, attracted to the worst kind of boys – the absolute gits. The lying, manipulative, often cheating, self-loving idiots. And it made Mary feel really foolish and naïve. That didn't mean that she would pass up the invitation to join a certain curly haired Hufflepuff in an empty compartment at the beginning of the train ride. And that was precisely how she found herself sitting alone for 10 minutes before _the _Elliot Chase walked into the compartment, smirking.

Taking a seat extremely close to her he winked, "Hullo, MacDonald."

"Chase."

"How was your summer?" He shifted closer, his leg touching hers.

Mary rolled her eyes, "Not particularly interesting."

"But I helped, didn't I?" A self-satisfied smile graced his lips.

"Not in the least."

Elliot's eyebrows shot up in mock surprise, "Really? Are you sure?"

"Quite sure**.**" she started, **"**Besides, it was just a snog."

He nodded, agreeing with her. It _was_ just a snog. It was always just a snog for him, never more, but also, never less. Elliot Chase was the kind of boy you could find in any girl's vicinity. Good looking, convinced that he is charming and that girls simply fall at his feet. He could easily be described as overly confident with an arrogant smirk permanently gracing his lips. A boy who didn't care much if he hurt a girl. It was just a snog for him and Mary wanted to believe it was just a snog for her, too. Unlike Elliot, Mary could not separate physical from emotional as easily.

It was never just a snog for her, though when Elliot Chase was the person in question it really should have been just a kiss—no more, no less.

The snog they shared a few minutes later in that compartment ought to have been merely a snog; if not it should not have happened in the first place. But Mary had trouble discerning between good and bad decisions, and she was a 16 year old girl who had a gorgeous boy alone in a compartment. There was little (or no) space to be thinking about good and bad decisions. Besides, for a boy who didn't care about all the girls he kissed, Elliot's kisses were as sweet and tender as they come. Mary wondered if he was really as insensitive as he came off. A guy who kissed like that couldn't possibly be an emotionless _arse_, she reasoned with herself: _he wasn't all that bad_.

He came to meet her; _he cared_, he just couldn't show it.

And Mary was, once again, a proper naïve girl believing she was an exception to a boy's ways. Elliot Chase was kissing her and he wanted her, what more should Mary ask for? The Hufflepuff was handsome and smart, did a decent bloke need to be anything more? A thought came to her—a decent bloke ought to be, to put it simply, decent. But you can't always have the full package and Mary was never the girl to go looking for whatever 'full package' referred to. She was happy to get smart and handsome because smart and handsome was good enough. It shouldn't have been good enough for Mary, because no girl—no one ever, truly—should ever settle for good enough when it came to love, but it was. So, Mary MacDonald settled for a really smart git—Elliot Chase—for the time being and they snogged in an empty compartment of Hogwarts Express with completely different ideas on what _'just a snog'_ meant.

There were things Mary didn't tell her friends on that train ride. One of them was why she arrived to their compartment almost an hour late.

* * *

Lily Evans absolutely, positively abhorred August showers. That also implied the September 1st shower that caught up with her as she walked towards the barrier on the morning of that very same day, her family trailing behind her. Petunia had put up a decent show that morning and repetitively refused to go with them, only to compliantly get in the car once they were supposed to leave. It was the first thing that unnerved Lily that morning. The next thing the made her want to _Avada Kedavra_ herself was her owl. Now, Agatha was a perfectly decent owl, except she had decided that the morning of September 1st would be an opportune moment to start acting insane. She had never seen an owl as restless. If only Lily knew how owls reacted to a Sleeping Charm or being stunned, then perhaps Agatha would soon enough learn as well. But because she was unfortunate and did not know the effect such spells had on animals in general Lily had no other choice but to bear with the owl and try not to go mad in the process. At least then she'd understand Agatha.

The third and final thing that had the potential to ruin her already bad mood hit her—and quite literally so—when she felt the _heavy_ rain drops land on top of her head upon stepping out of the car. Of course no one remembered to bring an umbrella and therefore Lily was stuck running towards King's Cross Station and pushing all of her things in front of her, a hooting, wing-flapping Agatha in a bird cage on top—looking like a proper lunatic in the process—with her family on her tail. She hugged her mum and dad in front of the barrier, and kissed Tuney—who flinched just a little bit—on the cheek. Her sister refused to watch her disappear and soon enough turned her back to Lily. It was an annually rehearsed routine—rush to the King's Cross station, be almost late, say goodbye to your family, let Tuney ignore the existence of your world—and Lily wasn't a fan of it. To make the matters even worse the rain was falling harder and harder as she rushed towards the train, her clothes slowly getting wetter. Oh, how she loathed the rain.

As per usual Lily Evans was just on time. The Hogwarts Express departed ten seconds after she was safely aboard. Minutes later she joined Leona and Marlene in their compartment.

* * *

She really liked kissing.

Mary really liked being liked and being kissed. Besides Elliot was an amazing kisser. Her hands were loosening his tie and unbuttoning the top buttons of his shirt while his hands inched up her own shirt. Things weren't going to progress much further, Mary wouldn't allow it; she wasn't going to be called a slag especially not on the first day of school. But she quite liked the way his hands felt on her bare skin and his chest was _so very, very_ nicely toned. No one could blame her for being curious and adventurous. Especially not when everybody did it once or twice (or more times, did it really matter?); everybody snogged on Hogwarts Express. If you didn't know about it, it only meant that the two people were secretive and sneaky enough, which should be applauded because it often seemed that, in Hogwarts, everyone knew everything, courtesy of Julia Malone, Tracy Samuels and Victoria Sturgiss, the much disliked—or liked, depends who you were—Ravenclaw gossip machine. Mary wasn't worrying about the three, though, because they didn't matter at the moment.

What mattered was the exact way Elliot was kissing Mary. The way he pulled her lower lip between his teeth lightly and the way he opened his eyes to look at her. It was possibly the way he rested his forehead against hers before smirking and pulling her closer once again. Or it might have been the way he kissed her neck; perhaps even that moment when his fingers travelled downward until they reached the imagined—but very firm and very real—boundaries Mary had set for herself and she had to pull his hands a bit higher. It was most definitely the curious, wandering hands and lips connecting and lips parting and… well, it was everything that Mary had already experienced with him before, but never told anyone.

_Elliot was a handsome bloke. Elliot was a handsome bloke. Elliot was a handsome bloke._

Mary always had to convince herself that she wasn't making a mistake. _She wasn't_. Elliot was everything she wanted, then and there. He was a handsome guy, right? She liked him, right? She did, she did. Repeating the words inside her head she continued the quick chant until they finally parted and agreed they should both join their friends before their mates got overly suspicious. Elliot buttoned up his shirt and let her do his tie, which took Mary by surprise because she didn't expect him to allow her to do it. It felt nice. Then he was gone with a parting kiss and Mary was left alone to button up her shirt and fix her hair. Once she deemed herself decent she set out to find her friends who would, undoubtedly, be curious about her disappearance.

It took her much longer than she previously assumed to reach the compartment she shared with her best mates. The reason behind that was the crying fifth year old girl—who was tiny enough to pass as a thirteen year old—with enlarged front teeth. It was hard to understand what she was saying because her words were muffled due to her inability to speak properly—it might have had something to do with the magically enhanced teeth. From what Mary understood someone had hexed her, which was painfully obvious as it was, and being unsure how to counter the hex she planned on taking her to the Marauders' compartment because they were experts on those—as far as Mary was concerned—a path that led her in the opposite direction of her own compartment. The girl got increasingly more fidgety once they neared the Marauders and her panic only grew once Mary reached to knock on the door. In fact the girl seemed as if she was about to faint and, by her manic pointing to the door and back to her teeth, Mary soon realised that it was one of the four boys who had hexed the poor thing in the first place. Resignedly Mary led the girl all the way to her compartment where she called Iris Ravensdale to come out. Despite being an average student who cared more about Quidditch than her classes, Iris knew a lot about hexes, almost as much as the four gits who had done this in the first place. Mary guessed that growing up with three older brothers could do that to you. It was her luck—well, the hexed fifth year was the lucky one—that Iris was able to fix the problem in a matter of seconds and the girl—now grinning widely with her normally sized teeth—couldn't stop thanking them. Iris realized why she might have been hexed to begin with—the girl just didn't shut up.

"So, Mary MacDonald," Marlene started as soon as Iris returned, accompanied by Mary, "where have you been?"

She smiled, "Oh, around. Saving younger generations."

"The Marauders?" Leona's interest increased.

"Oh, Merlin, what did they do now?" Lily asked seemingly disinterested, but with a note of irritation in her voice, from behind the Daily Prophet.

"One of them hexed a poor fifth year girl." Mary explained. "You should have seen her teeth, it was hilarious, really dramatic. Poor thing."

Iris scoffed, "Yes,_ poor thing._ Can't imagine why someone would want to shut her up with her own teeth. Really, Mary. It's beyond me."

"Well, I suppose she _is_ annoying." Mary smirked and Iris looked at her as if she were mad. "Okay, she was completely… aggravating!"

"So they had to hex her?" Lily asked, befuddled. "That's no excuse. That's the dumbest excuse anyone could offer for hexing someone. That's exactly something James Potter and Sirius Black would use as an excuse."

"Trust me, Lily," Iris cut in, "it _really_ is."

When Lily seemed ready to continue arguing Marlene interrupted the debate by speaking up, "Have you heard what Gemma Connelly has been doing all summer long?" Without pausing for a second she continued. "Well, I've been told by Victoria Sturgiss—"

"Who else could it have been?" Monroe interrupted. "Sorry, go on."

"So, Victoria Sturgiss comes up to me at the station as if we were best friends and starts telling me about Sirius' relationship with Gemma Connelly! And she is so excited because, apparently, she heard it all from Gemma herself." (Iris scoffed.) "And she has known about it ever since they snogged at the end of last year, that party after O.W.L.s. Apparently he's been sending her _love_ letters as well. And supposedly they are _madly_ in love."

"Well, that certainly explains why he hexed that girl, then." Lily muttered.

"Why?"

"Because the _Malon –Sturgiss–Samuels_ machine has obviously been spreading the rumour and just about every girl would love to know if it's all true. I reckon that they've been harassing him about it ever since he boarded the train." Monroe sighed. "A ruddy daft thing to do if you know anything about Sirius' reputation. I mean, the bloke is rather prone to hexing people and it's not like any of the other three was going to stop him anyway."

"'Probably had a good laugh about it, too." Lily added. "But still, it's just… what use is it hexing these people? It's just sodding stupid."

"The gits."

Marlene chuckled, "What I, personally, really can't understand is the need for constant gossip at Hogwarts."

Iris rolled her eyes, "It's not just Hogwarts. It's every bloody place anywhere that has girls like Sturgiss walking down its hallways."

With a simple topic change and a slight distraction Mary MacDonald managed to avoid fessing up to her friends about her whereabouts during the beginning of the ride. She was free to enjoy the implausible gossip about Sirius Black and she wasn't bothered by the fact that she had snogged Elliot in an empty compartment. There was, however, no fooling herself. Sooner or later the word would get out. The dark haired boy would without a fault tell one of his friends and his friend would then tell someone else, or they would be overheard while talking about it and it would spread faster than wildfire. Soon enough the word would reach Julie, or Tracy, or—the worst scenario—Victoria after which point it would only be the matter of time until even the social outcasts who had no gossiping friends found out.

* * *

_**A/N**: Now that you have reached the end of this whatever, I would like to thank you for giving it (and me) a chance. Reviews and opinions are highly welcome, so if you can spare some time and review that'd be great. You're all wonderful and lovely and deserve tea and biscuits. Unfortunately, it's quite impossible to actually distribute them via internet (which is stupid, you know? Why can't we share food through internet, why?) so I'll just send you my love (which, suprisingly, equals tea and biscuits!). _

_I would aslo like to thank_ _DerangedDynamic, Ms D Longbottom, lilalex13 and D. McGuiller for being the first people to review. Extra biscuits for you!_

_Love._


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